ate: Meaning and Definition of

ate

1. pt. of

A•te

1. an ancient Greek goddess personifying the fatal blindness or recklessness that produces crime and the divine punishment that follows it.

ATE

1. equipment that makes a series of tests automatically.

-ate

1. a suffix occurring in loanwords from Latin, its English distribution paralleling that of Latin. The form originated as a suffix added to a-stem verbs to form adjectives (separate). The resulting form could also be used independently as a noun (advocate) and came to be used as a stem on which a verb could be formed (separate; advocate; agitate). In English the use as a verbal suffix has been extended to stems of non-Latin origin: calibrate; acierate.

-ate

1. a specialization of -ate, used to indicate a salt of an acid ending in -ic, added to a form of the stem of the element or group: nitrate; sulfate. Compare -ite.

-ate

1. a suffix occurring orig. in nouns borrowed from Latin, and in English coinages from Latin bases, that denote offices or functions (consulate; triumvirate; pontificate), as well as institutions or collective bodies (electorate; senate); sometimes extended to denote a person who exercises such a function (magistrate; potentate), an associated place (consulate), or a period of office or rule (&hasp;protectorate). Joined to stems of any origin, signifies the office, term of office, or territory of a ruler or official (caliphate; khanate; shogunate).